5-Minute Honey Yogurt Quinoa Parfait

This post is sponsored by my friends at General Mills just in time for their newest addition to the Big G cereal family: Cheerios + Ancient Grains!

First things first: the red in those pomegranates just makes me feel all PARTY.

Breakfast party? Extra coffee? Yes?

Lately breakfast has had me completely wrapped around its tasty little finger. First it was the eggs, and now it’s this yogurt parfait with crunchy cereal, chewy quinoa, and snappy pomegranate seeds.

You guys, this is getting really awesome and a little bit weird.

Like, where’s my lifetime breakfast of oatmeal?

What has food blogging done to me?

Yogurt Quinoa Parfait with pomegranate seeds.

I used to think breakfast was exclusive to a big, warm bowl of oatmeal with almond butter and honey and fine, okay, I’ll take a touch of cream if you’re going to twist my arm like that.

But I’m coming to terms with some sad personal food news: I think I ruined my desire to eat hot oatmeal during our year in the Philippines.

I forced it when it shouldn’t have been forced, when the early morning air was already heavy and sticky and I was a regular hot morning mess, and now I’m just not that into it. I’M SO SORRY, SELF.

But with the exit of oatmeal comes the new found love for cold breakfast things like green smoothies and muesli, overnight oats and grapefruit, and granola and milk and coffee. And most importantly, yogurt parfaits that scream happy, vibrant, morning joy right into my face.

Doesn’t it just totally makes sense that I would be into these things now that I’ve moved back to my frozen Minnesotaland? Totally.

Okay, so cold breakfasts –> cereal.

Cereal –> hard to find when you’re trying to reduce sugar.

Remember how Bjork and I are playing around with this 60-day sugar free challenge thing? THE SINGLE BIGGEST PROBLEM I had when we did the challenge this summer was finding a good tasting cereal that kept the sugar under control. There are so so SO many bad-tasting no-sugar cereals out there in the world, which is a complete joy-killer for cereal lovers like mehself. I pretty much swore off cereal altogether during our last 60-day sugar free challenge.

Enter Cheerios + Ancient Grains: what I love about it is that, besides being a mainstream cereal that is easy to find at the grocery stores where you already shop and making you feel just a little extra-hip because of the addition of quinoa clusters and spelt and Kamut wheat, it is just barely sweetened with just over one teaspoon of sugar per serving. For me, it is the perfect amount so that it tastes Super Cereal Good while still helping me maintain my reduced sugar goals.

Thank you thank you thank you!

Honey Yogurt Quinoa Parfait in a glass with a spoon.

So I am now your friend who makes a batch of quinoa for the week, keeps it in the fridge, and whips up these colorful, nutritious five-minute honey yogurt quinoa parfaits at every possible occasion, from a quick and crunchy pre-coffee bite to a nightly TV-watching munchie to a pretty layered treat at brunchtime.

I think it’s actually called obsessed.